1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to telecommunications network products and, more particularly, to a method for processing wireless prepaid telephone calls.
2. Related Art
Telecommunications network products are services provided by telephone companies that are carried on telecommunications networks. A widely known example is dial-1 long-distance voice service which allows a customer to dial a 1 plus a ten digit number from his or her home telephone, talk to a party who answers the telephone on the line of the ten digit number dialed, and pay for the telephone call when billed at the end of the month. Although dial-1 is popular, other calling and payment options are sometimes preferable, such as the option to make a call from a phone other than the home phone and charge the call to the home phone account using a calling card.
One such calling and payment option is debit calling which is also referred to as prepaid calling. Debit calling allows a customer to put funds in an account and have those funds debited each time a telephone call is made. Standard debit call processing includes verification of the account balance prior to connecting the call and ongoing balance verification during the call. An example of a typical debit calling customer is a parent who purchases a debit calling card for a child away from home.
As previously mentioned, debit calling is carried on a telecommunications network. A telecommunications network comprises two basic elements: telecommunications equipment, which may also be referred to as network components, and links which connect the equipment or components. In a common channel signaling telecommunications network, two types of links connect components, signaling links and traffic links (also known as telephone lines). Signaling links carry signaling information needed to process a call between network components. Traffic links or telephone lines carry information a customer is sending, for example a digitalized signal of a person""s voice, between network components. Components of the telecommunications network, specifically switches, establish a traffic link to carry a call by exchanging messages via signaling links. Signaling messages specify tasks to be performed on the traffic links.
Because call handling and information processing for debit calling differs from other voice services, debit calls are handled by specialized components in the telecommunications network. Difficulties arise in setting up calls through network components that are not specialized for handling prepaid calls. These components may handle primarily dial-l calls or be specialized for another service such as wireless voice service. A particular problem addressed by the present invention is incorporating prepaid calls into a network specialized in handling wireless calls.
The most common approach in incorporating debit calling into a wireless network is to require a specialized wireless handset to force calls through to the network components that can handle the debit calls. Another approach is to require a customer to dial an access number to access the appropriate network components for debit calling. Yet another approach is to limit the services available to a debit caller, for example, some wireless debit services allow customers to make debit calls but do not allow customers to receive debit calls via the wireless network.
Briefly stated, the present invention offers wireless prepaid calling without the use of a special wireless handset or access number. In addition, the present invention allows a customer to place and receive calls via the wireless network. Also, the present invention offers specialized call processing for wireless debit calls while complying with industry signaling standards.
More particularly, the present invention is directed to a wireless prepaid platform using a signaling technique. The signaling technique involves use of a signaling message, referred to as a transaction capabilities application part message, between components to transfer information needed to process prepaid wireless calls. In addition, a prepaid routing number and a call identification number are used to route the call and retrieve information concerning the call.
The telecommunications industry has developed a standard signaling method which allows telephone companies to communicate over the networks of other companies. The equipment in a telecommunications network complies with the standard so it can receive and respond to signaling messages from other equipment. The current industry standard is American National Standards Institute (ANSI) Signaling System Number 7 (SS7) Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) User Part (ISUP), NCT 1.113 (1995) document and the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) Signaling System Number 7 (SS7) Message Transfer Part (MTP) NCT 1.111 (1992) document which are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety. The industry standard signaling messaging used for call set-up is referred to as the initial address message.
In addition to the initial address message, the present invention uses a transaction capabilities application part message, also which also complies with the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) Signaling System Number 7 (SS7) Integrated Digital Network (ISDN) User Part (ISUP) standard, to transfer information needed to process prepaid wireless calls. The transaction capabilities application part message comprises a transaction portion and a component portion. The transaction portion indicates the type of message and elements in the network that will receive the message. The component portion includes a query or invoke message and a response message. The query or invoke message includes the operation to be performed and parameters that can be defined on a product-by-product basis. The response component indicates whether the transaction was successful, contained an error, or was rejected.
Although the format for a transaction capabilities application message complies with the industry standard signaling method, the industry standard signaling method does not specify that this message be used to signal for prepaid wireless call processing. In addition, the signaling technique of the present invention defines parameters in the query or invoke component of the message to provide information that can be used for routing and billing of prepaid wireless calls.
Although the industry signaling standard does not specify the use of a transaction capabilities message or the prepaid parameters for prepaid wireless call processing, because the information is translated by the equipment into a form that can be transmitted by an initial address message, the call set-up signaling technique complies with the industry standard signaling method.
Use of the signaling technique alleviates the need for a special wireless handset or access number to direct the call to the appropriate network components. Also, services are not limited, for example, a prepaid subscriber may both make and receive a call.
Further features and advantages of the invention, as well as the structure and operation of various embodiments of the invention, are described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the drawings, like reference numbers generally indicate identical, functionally similar, and/or structurally similar elements. The drawing in which an element first appears is indicated by the leftmost digit(s) in the corresponding reference number.